Spring Practice Primer: Northwestern

Spring football is in the air, and with our Spring Practice Primers the Eye On College Football Blog gets you up to speed on what to look for on campuses around the country this spring. Today we look at Northwestern.

Spring Practice Starts: Saturday, March 3

Spring Game: Saturday, April 14

Returning Starters: Five on offense, five on defense, both specialists.

Three Things To Look For:

1. Can Kain Colter take over the starting quarterback job? When Northwestern was without Dan Persa last season, Colter did an admirable job filling in. Even after Persa returned Colter continued to see time on the field, though mostly as a running and receiving threat, tallying 1,120 yards and 12 touchdowns for the Northwestern offense. The question, though, will be whether or not Colter can take on full-time responsibilites as a passer. There's reason to believe he can, because even though he only threw 82 passes last season, he completed 67% of them and had 6 touchdowns with only 1 interception. Still, he'll have to prove it this spring or Pat Fitzgerald may be forced to look in a different direction.

2. Another playmaker on offense must emerge. While Colter is likely to be the focal point of the Northwestern offense in 2012, his life would be a lot easier if somebody else on the Wildcats offense stood up to help carry the load. Whether it's running back Treyvon Green or receiver Demetrius Fields, somebody will have to step up to replace the talent lost to graduation and Colter's likely move.

3. Northwestern needs to stop somebody. A major problem in Evanston the last few seasons has been the defense and its inability to keep opponents off the board. Against Big Ten competition last season, Northwestern's defense allowed 32.75 points a game. I repeat, that was against Big Ten offenses. If there's reason to be optimistic, it's that the Wildcats played a lot of freshman and sophomores on defense toward the end of the season, so hopefully that experience will lead to improvement in 2012.

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